Boris Johnson told MPs he is sorry if his remarks about a British woman jailed in Iran had been "so misconstrued" to have caused anxiety to her family.

But the Foreign Secretary stopped short of meeting repeated requests to admit he made a mistake and offer an unequivocal apology.

Mr Johnson also accused Labour of political point-scoring and deflecting blame from the Iranian regime over the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The Cabinet minister faced a grilling from MPs after last week saying Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran at the time of her arrest last year, something her employer and her family insist is incorrect.

Speaking in the Commons, Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said two of her Oxford West and Abingdon constituents are family members of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

File photo dated 28/02/17 of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, as the Conservatives denied that Mr Johnson is being sidelined from the party's General Election campaign by Prime Minister Theresa May. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday April 26, 2017. Reports have suggested the Foreign Secretary has been told to keep a low profile because he is vulnerable to challenge over his pre-referendum claims that Brexit would deliver £350 million a week to spend on the NHS. See PA story ELECTION Johnson. Photo credit should read: Victoria Jones/PA Wire (Image: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

She said of Mr Johnson: "The family has been worried sick by his irresponsible comments.

"On a human level is the Foreign Secretary at all sorry for the rollercoaster of emotions he has caused Nazanin and her family this week, and could he at least apologise to them today?"

Mr Johnson replied: "Of course I'm sorry if any words of mine have been so taken out of context and so misconstrued as to cause any kind of anxiety for the family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, of course I am.

"But the most important thing is that I don't believe, and I have this from the Iranians themselves, that those words had any impact on the judicial process.

"We are going to work flat out to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and I'm very happy to have been able to make that clarification to the House today and I'm delighted, as I say Richard Ratcliffe welcomes the clarification I have made.

"But if she passes on my thoughts to her constituents, who are the family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, I'd be very grateful."